Hackers seem to be the “in” thing these days in Bollywood. Close on the heels of Kunal Kapoor’s hacker act in Don 2, Neil Nitin Mukesh will be seen playing “Spider”, a hacker, in the thriller Players. Brushing up on his technical skills however, wasn’t all Neil was required to do — instead, he had to gain weight to look more tech geek than Greek god.
“Neil has been known for his lean body structure ever since he started his career, and that image has been reinforced by films like Lafangey Parindey,” said a friend of the actor. “But since his role in Players required him to be stuck to the computer or other tech gadgets for the most part, he needed to look like a geek. He was advised to put on at least five kilos, which he did.”
Neil’s role is rumoured to be based on Ed Norton’s in the film’s original version, The Italian Job, and the actor says, “It’s not like I was this overweight, lethargic person! I dropped the extra weight after the shoot was complete.”